Spider's Lair
by detrametal
Summary: What happens if those chaotically neutral were viewed as evil because their motives were hidden? Deep within Gotham, the former Arkham Asylum has discovered this as Spider made his lair on the island. Webs have been spun and fangs are ready.


_He stared down at her, scarred eyes boring deeply into her sanity-taking chunks away with it "What is the price of the Strong?"_

" _You become a target?" she whispered as she trembled._

" _What is the duty of the Strong?"_

 _She shook her head. His unblinking gaze never wavered "To guard the weak underneath you, your pack. So when the insane and depraved see all yours have you will never shy and they will slink away in horror at the death and destruction you wreak upon them."_

* * *

The four villains watched as their near robotic guide continued to show them through the Botanical Gardens. He was human, but his manner was robotic at best and the black suit, shaved head and sunglasses didn't discourage that notion, and it being night along with the almost vampiric bite on his neck gave everything an even creepier air.

Those who followed him were a who's who of the city's most iconic villains-Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Joker and Harley Quinn. All of them were terrified as they entered the former Arkham Asylum. It had been part of a trade the city had engaged in, a new island was made for the asylum in exchange for this one. After Joker's Titan attempted and the trial the Dark Knight went through it proved that Arkham Asylum was not up to the task, it was an old home remade for the criminals of it's day.

Not of today, however.

Their guide stopped in front of the Greenhouse section where Joker had found Ivy and dosed her with Titan. Joker giggled nervously "What's the matter buddy boy? Got something in your eye?"

The suited man laughed, it was nearly expressionless "Actually yes." pulling off the glasses their guide turned. His left eye was a regular brown, like you'd find on just about anybody walking the around on the street. His right was the same brown but laced with black veins that stood out in stark contrast against the white.

Scarecrow snarled "Let's get this over with." as Croc sniffed the air

The guide put an arm out "My boss isn't through with his previous meeting."

Crane was about to stick him but Croc shook his massive head "Don't, there's something here…"

Their guide spoke again in his mechanical way "My employer has called you here and before you can meet with him you will understand that he is…unique. You are to never speak about his appearance."

The fear monger growled in irritation "Or what?"

He said nothing. And for some reason that was more frightening than anything he could have said.

* * *

One would not have guessed the circumstances that lead here if they looked around the room. After the wreckage of Batman's fight with Ivy the room had been remade, as had the entire island but this room was now an office. The glass was replaced and the outer ring was still filled with plants. Where the fountain once stood was a desk that included a rather interesting water feature, from the left side of the dark wooden desk a stream flowed before traveling in a semicircle in front of the desk where several fish made their home and continued in a large spiral until it disappeared under one of the beds, small wooden bridges made the desk accessible.

Currently the three occupants were nowhere near the desk. They sat on two cushions that were in the middle of one of the beds, Batman took one while the man who invited him took the other. Poison Ivy was sleeping peacefully, her head on the owner of the island's lap and her legs splayed out across the soil.

Stroking her hair the man across from the Dark Knight spoke "Bruce, I'm not asking you to overlook my actions. I'm alerting you that there are repercussions."

Batman sighed but took off the cowl "Spider, I cannot allow any crime in this city"

Spider was the never seen, though often heard (figuratively, he wrote letters and messages via proxy) owner of the Akibikaashi company, the biological counterpart to the mechanical Wayne enterprises. Spider warned "I will do whatever it takes to fix them. Even if I have to kill every other person on this planet I will do it."

Batman stood "Then this meeting is over. If we have to fight again I won't hold anything back."

Spider's mechanical left fist hissed and whined as he clenched it "Before you go…I have something for you." he flicked the gift through the air.

Catching the item Bruce blinked several times "These are Strange's glasses."

"Consider them a gift, Arkham City isn't going anywhere"

"You killed Strange" it wasn't an accusation but a statement.

Spider nodded "He came to the island and tried to barge in, he critically wounded two of my death row saves before I decided that he was pushing to far. He was strong enough that he lasted two whole minutes"

Bruce asked "Two? Are you serious?" Ivy stirred for a moment before settling. Eyes trained on the woman he continued "Why Ivy?"

"That is a conversation about the duality of nature…of which you would be, at once, the prime example and the worst."

Normally Batman would have ordered an explanation but irritating let alone a fight with Spider were to be avoided "And how would that be?"

The metal tip of his left thumb pressed into the hardened flesh of the right "You have two sides. Bruce and Batman. Both of them are kept separate and they will never overlap. For individuals like Ivy and myself those other sides cannot ever be separated from us. They define us. And because of it we are split. Ivy dislikes humanity, so her plant side is drawn to my…less than human side. If she ever finds someone her human side could love then she would be drawn in different directions."

Looking deep into Spider's single open eye Batman ventured "But you're different. There have only been, what, ten people you haven't ever thought of killing?"

"Only them and Ivy after the attack…don't take it personally, that's just how my mind works"

"None taken, oddly enough"

"If my human side ever attracts me to someone they most certainly will not be human, and we both know that's possible with the aliens we've met."

Currently the Dark Knight was getting a glimpse of his opponent that he had never believed he would get "So you're saying that your other side is in love with Ivy and that your human side can't love a human? What would you do if Ivy ever found this human?"

Spider's finger never stopped dancing through the sleeping woman's hair "I would never force her to stay. There have been very few people like us, some drifted between their partners others chose one to follow. One or two managed to live in small units made of all their people."

"So polygamy in the sense that it's one person, but not in terms of sides?"

Nodding once Spider said "Now if you'll excuse me, I have another appointment to keep, you're welcome to stay and listen but keep out of sight."

Gotham's protector shook his head "I'd better not" the bat wing hovered just past the glass and Spider watched as one of the glass panels slid back and allowed Batman to grapple through and into his jet before flying off.

Ivy woke gently and smiled up at him softly. Gently kissing her forehead Spider asked "Do you want to send the others in?"

Stretching the green lady sighed "Don't see why not." quickly she made her way over and opened it "Charles, you can go now"

The man nodded before the veins glowed for a brief moment and Ivy barely shifted her head in a shake. The man smirked and left with the parting message of "Thanks Ivy, have a good one."

"You too" she shot back before turning to the group "Well come on, don't want to keep him waiting."

All the villains were surprised to say the least, it seemed totally against Ivy to willingly pair up with a man, let alone someone who owned a multi-billion dollar company. Seeing the man who invited them was…underwhelming. Physically.

He wasn't as tall as the men they usually dealt with, the uppermost part of the five foot range and wore a black suit with a distinct spider web pattern that radiated from where a tie would be, only instead he had a large wooden spider who's legs reached across the gap in the jacket. Next to his immaculately polished shoes was the bottom of a cane, a very distinct cane that all by itself would warrant a second glance.

The body seemed to be made of one piece of a near white wood with a twist that went around a half turn at the very bottom and a very distinct curve starting a third of the way down that jutted forward, the handle was the same wood curved back towards him before flaring forward with a small steel cap with a spider pattern on it.

Sitting on top of the cane were two hands. One was green and the other skeletal metal, looking up they realized that his skin was a deep forest green, his hair was a deeper green as he stepped around them the short pony tail moving with his even steps. His eyes were pools of pure black, no white, no green. Pure black. It made the lighter scars and tattoos stand out even more.

Starting just under the center of his right eye started one of seven scars it went across his nose at a bare angle to stop at the far corner of his left eye-the line of scar tissue clearly visible across the black orb. The other six were long lines, three on the top of his right eye three on the bottom, the two middle ones were straight but the other four at slight outward angles like the rays of the sun but they all stretched across his face to disappear from sight before ending. The tattoo was on the left side of his face and was all swirls and points, dots and curves. It was a strange dichotomy-civility and the primal.

Until he approached Croc. The giant whimpered at the other approached. Civility was a façade. He was more primal than even the deepest places on Earth, more so than any other creature. He whispered "Kneel" Waylon trembled and whimpered again but didn't move. The green hand was lifted and a single finger touched the center of the reptilian chest, again he whispered "Kneel" and Croc fell to his hands and knees.

Scarecrow summed up what he, Joker and Harley all felt "What the hell was that?!"

Walking with a grace that would paint the killers of the animal kingdom with envy he approached the shirtless Crane "Simple. Waylon found out I was the Alpha" but as he approached the doctor was paralyzed. Spider was looking at him with utter carelessness. Like nothing he could do could even scuff the black on their host's shoe. "Kneel"

Crane resisted "Hell…no!" he spat through gritted teeth as his body wanted nothing more than to comply "What are you…doing?"

Though neither of them fancied Scarecrow both Ivy and Harley had to pinch their noses as Spider's mechanical hand slid behind him with the cane, the other lightly touched the center of his chest before sliding to the tip of the doctor's chin "I'm simply showing you the folly of your stupidity and arrogance" his finger flicked off the chin and the hood and mask slid off of the fear monger's face by way of a large cut right down the middle. "Kneel" this time knees touched ground and he turned to Joker "I admit I'm rather curious to see how far gone you are…shall we try?"

Harley was split, she didn't want anything bad to happen to Mistah J but watching him be dominated…she discreetly checked for drool and found none. Ivy's tongue darted out at the thought before Spider got right in Joker's face, noses nearly touching. Joker lost his smile and looked terrified before Spider moved right to his ear "Kneel" the purple touched the light gray stone of the floor.

* * *

Bruce sat in front of the bat computer pensively "Alfred…do you think it's the right decision?"

The butler hesitated putting down the cup of coffee in front of the CEO "Sir, I believe this situation is not one where there was any _good_ decision. There were many bad ones and you are choosing the one that will minimize the fallout."

Batman nodded at his lifelong friend and opened the channel "Batman calling Robin."

A black mask appeared on the screen "Bruce, to what do we owe the honor?"

"I need you and your team in Gotham. There's a situation that I believe only your team can solve."

Robin was absolutely stunned, there were few times that Bruce even called somebody and fewer still that he couldn't do something. Looking back he saw his team nod "We'll be there tomorrow."

Killing the feed Bruce turned to Alfred "Well, lying to Richard never feels good…"

The wizened old man smiled "Of course sir, but it must be done"

* * *

Spider sat at his desk and watched as the koi swam around each other, Ivy sat in one of the plant beds and slowly ran her fingers across the leaves. He set one hand on top of the other and stared "I remember one day I was with my mother. We were sitting on the riverbank." his eyes were focused out of the glass and through time "She asked me what it was like, the village, the huts."

Ivy watched him, every movement was something, an insight into how he lived his life, how the innumerable scars across his body came to be. In the still night air she asked "What did you say?"

"I told her it was all I really knew. I was born in the US sure but I couldn't remember anything about it. I remember the tribe though."

"Is that where all…" she hesitated before gesturing around the room "this started?"

Absently his flesh hand rubbed his face "No, that question was just a moment in time."

"But it was important to you." it wasn't a question.

Absently he toyed with the two battered rings around his neck "You know how sometimes those golden moments just sneak up on you…"

Spider, no matter what anyone said, cared. The list was short and those who tried to get on the list and failed believed it too much work for too little. The five people-four in a coma and one with him in the room would laugh in their face. In every line of work he had ever touched loyalty could be bought, assassin, thief, mercenary, spy, but he was loyal to the five to the point any humanity he once had he had thrown away just for a chance to help them.

Very quietly he added "I don't think they'd understand…"

She grabbed his shoulder "I think they would. They were the only people you knew, they were your everything."

He grabbed her hand and stared at the fish.

* * *

The Titans, they had dropped the teen several months ago when the younger group of Titans had come to help them, made their way in the jet across the country and into the New Jersey city of Gotham. Terra keyed her comm line open "Are we going to be staying with Batman?"

Robin opened his line "We'll be staying with Bruce. I think this isn't really one mission, there's something up and I can't figure it out…" he mulled over it before Cyborg chuckled.

"Dude's the only guy who could be a better detective than you."

Terra rolled her eyes at her boyfriend "I don't think that's helping"

Their leader's face pinched in confusion "Guys, hold up, I'm getting a transmission from Bruce"

"Come to Arkham Island. Come in on the south side, there is a dock on the west island. Meet you there."

Starfire asked "Boyfriend Robin, is Batman always so short with others?"

As the jet started to kick up a spray of water the stoplight nodded "Yeah, for missions he really does the whole 'I won't say anything unless I have to' deal. Out of uniform you can get him talking quite a bit."

As the vehicle slid to a stop in front of the pier they were met with five people, Batman and four nearly identical men, each one was wearing the exact same thing, black suit, black shoes, sunglasses. Each of them also had black hair and had similar weights, heights and facial bone structures so it was almost impossible to tell them apart.

The four men, however, stayed a ways back and let Batman come forward "Robin, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Terra" he nodded at each in turn "It's good to see you again."

Robin wasn't in the mood for pleasantries "It's good to see you but why are we here? Wasn't the Asylum moved?"

Batman visibly swallowed the lump in his throat "The person who created the other island and took over this one is someone I'd rather not fight. He has a goal that I believe one of you can fix. The others I asked to come because Gotham is having to fight off too much for me alone at the moment and the police department is trying but failing since the judges are being bought."

Starfire said "Then where do we help this person?"

A voice they didn't expect answered "If you're talking about _him_ he's currently at the business office in Denver fixing their screw up. Hello Robin, it's been awhile"

The traffic light growled harshly "Poison Ivy"

Ivy's face was devoid of emotion "I'd be careful, remember who's place this is and if Batman hasn't tried to bust me already then maybe you should wonder why."

Mentor and pupil met eyes and a silent message exchanged before Robin backed down.


End file.
